On the heels of talk of some serious financial trouble (think: nine-digit net loss for 2013 and possible delisting by the NYSE MKT exchange), American Apparel is doing what they do best: Being provocative. The Los Angeles-based brand has just released their newest ad campaign, starring Bangladesh-born Maks. This ad's text "Made in Bangladesh" is obviously a play on the array of Bangladesh-based garment manufacturing tragedies that have been reported over the past couple of years (including one that killed over 1,000 people this past April). Catch the statement American Apparel released with the campaign after the break below and count down until the British Advertising Standards Authority and every other industry watch dog organization takes issue with this one ...

She is a merchandiser who has been with American Apparel since 2010. Born in Dhaka, the capitol of Bangladesh, Maks vividly remembers attending mosque as a child alongside her conservative Muslim parents. At age four, her family made a life changing move to Marina Del Rey, California. Although she suddenly found herself a world away from Dhaka, she continued following her parent’s religious traditions and sustained her Islamic faith throughout her childhood. Upon entering high school, Maks began to feel the need to forge her own identity and ultimately distanced herself from Islamic traditions. A woman continuously in search of new creative outlets, Maks unreservedly embraced this photo shoot.

She has found some elements of Southern California culture to be immediately appealing, but is striving to explore what lies beyond the city’s superficial pleasures. She doesn’t feel the need to identify herself as an American or a Bengali and is not content to fit her life into anyone else’s conventional narrative. That’s what makes her essential to the mosaic that is Los Angeles, and unequivocally, a distinct figure in the ever expanding American Apparel family. Maks was photographed in the High Waist Jean, a garment manufactured by 23 skilled American workers in Downtown Los Angeles, all of whom are paid a fair wage and have access to basic benefits such as healthcare.